Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Owner's Roundtable Proves To Be Interesting

Say what you will, ESPN has stuck by the declaration that being an active NASCAR owner is OK for the network's on-air personalities. Sometimes, this can be tough to take when news issues and team politics are being discussed. In other situations, hearing the views of those dealing with the real issues of the sport can be interesting.

Monday, a live Major League Baseball game cancelled the original 5PM airing of the NASCAR Now "roundtable" show. All that remained was a one-time showing at Midnight Eastern Time. That was a shame for the fans, because this was a fascinating show.

Allen Bestwick hosted an "all owners all the time" version of NASCAR Now that featured Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. This was another new mix of personalities on the show that features a constantly changing panel.

Bestwick has been the salvation of this program and on this Monday he had his work cut-out for him. From the start of the show, he kept all three owners away from the team issues and steered clear of the NASCAR news. This was clearly a program that was simply going to review Kansas, preview Talladega and talk about The Chase.

The results of Bestwick's efforts were outstanding. All three panelists were talking in conversational tones from the start of the show. Finally, viewers got to see four guys just sitting around and talking NASCAR. The best part was they were all having fun.

The review of the Cup race from Kansas drew lots of great comments and analysis from all three panelists. Running through the Tony Stewart pit problems, the great save by Matt Kenseth and the banzai move by Carl Edwards, Bestwick drew-out the best from his participants and kept the energy level high.

A key guest on the program was Jimmy Makar from JGR. Monday was no doubt a hectic day at Gibbs Racing, yet Makar found time to appear on the program. Bestwick and Makar have known each other for a long time and this relationship resulted in a telling and very intriguing interview.

Starting of with the problems of the #18 car, Makar related that the engine was on the dyno and the issues appeared to be related to fuel pick-up. On the JGR struggles in The Chase, Makar said "it feels like we got hit with a left hook." He went on to expand on the human and mechanical issues that had plagued the last three races.

Bestwick prodded Makar about potential changes in staff, which was a fair question. In response, Makar said the issues were spread over all the teams and it was a matter of getting the momentum back. Where Logano racing in the #96 car was concerned, Makar said Logano was just getting seat time and learning a lot. Makar has a good sense of humor and included that one skill Logano was perfecting was "getting out of the way."

Back in the studio, it seemed ironic that Bestwick's owner's show fell on this Monday. He followed-up on the JGR struggles with three owners who have been seeing their own teams struggle this season. The Wallace solution was to just keep going and remember racing is a tough sport. Evernham's answer was to find the real problems on each team and solve them. He pointed to communication as the Stewart issue.

Daugherty is the rookie owner and he added that "finding the leaks" and then fixing them was key. He stressed fundamentals and trying to remember what got these teams into The Chase in the first place. Sounding very much like the basketball player, Daugherty said it was time to "get back to the basics."

Unfortunately, someone in power at ESPN has become fascinated with team radio conversations. Bestwick was forced to lead a discussion about a frustrated crew chief telling a frustrated driver to "shut-up and drive" while the team worked on a solution to the problems with the car. It was juvenile at best. The panel took it all in stride, made some jokes about their radio comments in the past and pushed-on.

The Nationwide highlights again did not include an interview with the winner, but the panel followed-up with a good discussion. It gave Daugherty and Wallace an opportunity to expand on topics inside the Nationwide Series. Both of them have been working on that series for ESPN2 all season long.

A Talledaga preview was next and it included the "drop to the back of the pack" strategy. Wallace pointed-out that the sponsors might not exactly be happy with key drivers falling to the rear. Bestwick was interesting in his comments that the team cars were going to line-up and wait until the end to race. This was unusual coming from Bestwick, who usually stays away from adding his own opinions.

Here at TDP, we pointed out last week the economic issues that were impacting our society and the world. On this program, Bestwick chose to raise that topic. Wallace called Monday a "horrible day for NASCAR." Evernham called for action from the politicians and Daugherty pointed-out that owners were going to have to look at new ways of doing things in a more cost-efficient manner.

This program made the grade because of Bestwick's ability to control the conversation and set a comfortable tone for all concerned. Maybe Tuesday's NASCAR Now will think about re-airing some of these comments when they take to ESPN2 at 5PM Eastern Time. Luckily, the Tuesday afternoon baseball game is on TBS Sports.

The Daly Planet welcomes comments from readers. Simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the easy instructions. The rules for posting are located on the right side of the main page. Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

Bestwick needs to be on the air as a play-by-play host next year. Whether he continues as the studio show host would then fall on him to do more additional work, but as it is, he's at every ESPN race and on the Monday show, so I think he can handle it.

It would have been really nice since the game was on tthat ESPN could have put NASCAR Now on ESPN Classic so that the rest of us could have seen it. I think that this would ahve been a really interesting show.

JD, I find the small number of comments on this thread and similar results on Tuesday's threads indicative of a significant problem which may affect TV viewership: NASCAR fatigue. I never thought I'd say this but the season is too long.

JD, "Unfortunately, someone in power at ESPN has become fascinated with team radio conversations. Bestwick was forced to lead a discussion about a frustrated crew chief telling a frustrated driver to "shut-up and drive" while the team worked on a solution to the problems with the car. It was juvenile at best. The panel took it all in stride, made some jokes about their radio comments in the past and pushed-on." I would like to see this "mysterious power" interviewed, and I am sure that I am not the only one! Any professional casting such a public spotlight on others to show them negatively and creating such a large detrimental stir, detrimental to the drivers and giving ESPN another black eye, should surely see it as fair that he publically have to answer and explain the "how, what, why, where and when" of his doing it, fair play being the American way. That is professional journalism rather than cheap sensationalism, an abuse of their trust, responsibility. This same "power" must control NN, also. That is a lot of power. This upcoming interview being done by SPEED or someone outside of ESPN of course, and should they need any help with the questions for this interview I would be happy to help them out. Why would any higher power at ESPN want to create division and negative feelings making doing the interviews they are suppose to be doing more difficult due to the resultant feelings of mistrust, cutting the lines of communication? How would this "power" respond to their work being put on tv in the most negative light for all to see and hear, their trust and privacy being invaded? Did a committee sit down and make this decision? I certainly agree with it being juvenile and this power could explain that to us all, also. Since I do not have a tv show background I am left wondering why the panel took it all in stride and made jokes when they could have decided in the pre-race show that they were not going there and would have no comments to make, having their own integrity and public image to think of, etc.. Marybeth Thanks again for giving us peons a forum to air our questions and try to get answers.

I would like to see this "mysterious power" interviewed, and I am sure that I am not the only one!

It'll never happen.

ESPN would never allow someone they have producing their coverage--who doesn't know the sport they're covering--to publicly admit it, which is exactly what would have to happen if he/he spoke publicly.